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susannah_breslin

susannah_breslin

I'm lost
June 2005

APR 03, 2006 08:25 AM

AP looks at the war over pornography in "Battle Brews As Porn Moves into Mainstream." According to the article, porn is a $12 billion a year industry, there are over 4 million porn sites on the Web, and 40 percent of U.S. Internet users visit porn sites every month. But as porn has gone mainstream, anti-porn groups are taking steps to stop the rising tide of pornography. A psychologist says pornography leads to sexual dysfunction. Divorce lawyers say porn addiction leads to the demise of marriages. And a group called Morality in Media would like to see more obscenity prosecutions of pornographers.

"We're not going to get rid of all of it, but we can push it back into the gutter as far as humanly possible," said Morality in Media president Robert Peters, a Dartmouth-educated attorney who struggled in his 20s to kick a porn habit that started in grade school.

"It was hell," said Peters, recalling a six-year stretch where he regularly visited porn outlets on New York's 42nd Street. "It's a very hard habit to break."

Mark Laaser of Eden Prairie, Minn., says he frequently sought out pornography and engaged in extramarital sex for more than 20 years, starting in college and continuing through a career as pastor and counselor. He now runs workshops, and consults with church congregations on the issue.

"I've seen the damage it does to marriages, to families," he said.

Though he stressed the need for individual willpower, Laaser also faulted the porn industry for employing aggressive online technologies that "besiege you."

"Sometimes it's not a matter of free will," he said. "It's a matter of invasion."

theseeman

theseeman

Asheville, NC
December 2002

APR 03, 2006 09:09 AM

The freedom to make a bad choice is essential in our system of goverment. If we take that away from people then the terrorists win

Cigarette

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH
April 2004

APR 03, 2006 09:17 AM

I really can't fault him for the criticism of the invasiveness of porn advertising. Though that's also true of lots of other products, like predatory lenders and snake oil.

alansmithee55

alansmithee55

Canyon Country, CA
December 2004

APR 03, 2006 09:18 AM


porn is a $12 billion a year industry



wow, I could use a good job -- mebbe I could set the lights or sumptin'

jake_lex

jake_lex

Lexington, KY
February 2003

APR 03, 2006 09:20 AM

I didn't see this mentioned in the article, but $20 says this dope is one of the anti-porn crusaders who argued against the ".xxx" domain that would make blocking porn virtually foolproof.

It's not about keeping it from the kids...it's about banning it from all of us.

Farhaad

Farhaad

Arcadia, CA
February 2005

APR 03, 2006 09:22 AM

I love porno.

waxangel

waxangel

Baltimore, MD
May 2003

APR 03, 2006 09:24 AM

Hm...government-dictated, faith-based "morality." Wasn't there some sort of government like that that we "bombed back to the Stone Age" or something? One of those -Stans?

mitchclem

mitchclem

San Antonio, TX
August 2005

APR 03, 2006 09:24 AM

So long as sites stand up to this attempted oppression by wacko fundimentalists with no ground to stand on and not cave by self-censoring their content out of paranoia, I'm sure we'll all be okay.

Pokes

Pokes

Vancouver, BC
October 2003

APR 03, 2006 09:27 AM

I think porn is morally innocuous and that most arguments for censoring it rest on the flawed assumption that sex is evil and to be controlled. Does it really degrade women in ways it doesn't also degrade men? And even if it does, is it not possible to have nondegrading, non-sexist porn? Also, it's not like morally questionable content is peculiar to pornography; it can also be found in non-pornographic books, films, advertisements and so on. While I'm aware that supposedly half of all Americans believe that pornography leads to people losing respect for women, I don't see the harm in it.
The argument, I'm familiar with from philosophy goes: pornography provides a model for male sex calloused behaviour and has a numbing effect on women so that they tollerate sex calloused behaviour more readily. Unfortunately, the same can be said of violence on television and often is to little end. Donald L. Mosher (of the Presidential Commission) found in a study that "sexually arousing pornographic films did not trigger sexual behaviour, even in the sex calloused college males whose attitudes towards women were more conducive to sexual exploitation." and that sex calloused attitudes towards women decreased after the viewers saw pornographic films. Mosher also found no increase in "frequencies of masturbation, heterosexual petting, oral-genital sex, or coitus" in the 24 hrs after the subjects watched the films. Two weeks later, their level of sex callousness was still lower than before they viewed the films. He concluded that pornography is an outlet for the expression of calloused attitudes but not a model for calloused behaviour. Furthermore, much of the research on the effects of porn indicate that any effect it has, positive or negative, is short-lived. Also, whether being treated as a sex object neccessarily degrades someone is another matter altogether, one i won't delve too far into. It seems to me, however, that those who hold that view lived through an era in which women were taught to worry abotu men losing respect for them if they engaged in sex in inappropriate circumstances.
Ultimately, it seems to me that, though there is degrading an objeciotnable porn (snuff films, child-molestation, etc...), these are indicative of the culture which spawned them and are therefore symptoms, not causes of such broader cultural issues as patriarchy and inequality.

Cigarette

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH
April 2004

APR 03, 2006 09:30 AM

mitchclem said:
So long as sites stand up to this attempted oppression by wacko fundimentalists with no ground to stand on and not cave by self-censoring their content out of paranoia, I'm sure we'll all be okay.


You make 60 posts in eight months and that's what you have to say? Mocking the site?

Pirate_Romeo

Pirate_Romeo

Oklahoma City, OK
November 2004

APR 03, 2006 09:31 AM

alansmithee55 said:

porn is a $12 billion a year industry



wow, I could use a good job -- mebbe I could set the lights or sumptin'



I'm gonna deliver the donuts! Thought about being a camera operator but that would require both hands.

Pokes

Pokes

Vancouver, BC
October 2003

APR 03, 2006 09:33 AM

ALso, i negelected to mention, but from a moral perspective, all traditionally conservative arguments against porn are quite easily refutable whereas it's really the feminists who have legitimate objections. Last I checked, this article was presneting the objections of moral conservatives, not feminists.

alpha_hazard

alpha_hazard

Fort Collins, CO
April 2004

APR 03, 2006 10:01 AM

waxangel said:
Hm...government-dictated, faith-based "morality." Wasn't there some sort of government like that that we "bombed back to the Stone Age" or something? One of those -Stans?



can you really bomb someone back to the stoneage if the government was forcing them to never leave it?

While I can see the validity of the sexual disfunction and addiction arguments, perhaps there should be more options for people with these problems? As for the morality thing I think that's pretty well covered...

catatac

catatac

San Diego, CA
June 2005

APR 03, 2006 11:20 AM

Gutter! Yes! Guttersex!

I'm with Wacko B. No-Nuts up there. Sex is dirty and evil and belongs on the streets with alcohol and dancing and poker and ornamental buttons. I'm just on this site because I'm taking notes for Satan. I was also a product of immaculate conception. whatever

Signon

Signon

Austin, TX
June 2005

APR 03, 2006 11:31 AM

"I've seen the damage it does to marriages, to families," he said.

Yep. Because as we all know, pornography is an active force in the universe.

sixbysix

sixbysix

United Kingdom
December 2004

APR 03, 2006 11:46 AM

I wonder if there is any proven statistics to show that pornography is more responsible for failed marriage and sexual dysfunction than, say, alcohol?

What am I saying, of course there are. The people campaigning so hard to "ban this sick filth" wouldn't be doing so without logical reason, would they?

smile

starthinking

starthinking

Ann Arbor, MI
January 2006

APR 03, 2006 12:07 PM

Pokes said:
ALso, i negelected to mention, but from a moral perspective, all traditionally conservative arguments against porn are quite easily refutable whereas it's really the feminists who have legitimate objections. Last I checked, this article was presneting the objections of moral conservatives, not feminists.




Care to explain why?

starthinking

starthinking

Ann Arbor, MI
January 2006

APR 03, 2006 12:08 PM

Pokes said:
ALso, i negelected to mention, but from a moral perspective, all traditionally conservative arguments against porn are quite easily refutable whereas it's really the feminists who have legitimate objections. Last I checked, this article was presneting the objections of moral conservatives, not feminists.




Care to explain why?

starthinking

starthinking

Ann Arbor, MI
January 2006

APR 03, 2006 12:08 PM

Pokes said:
ALso, i negelected to mention, but from a moral perspective, all traditionally conservative arguments against porn are quite easily refutable whereas it's really the feminists who have legitimate objections. Last I checked, this article was presneting the objections of moral conservatives, not feminists.




Care to explain why?

starthinking

starthinking

Ann Arbor, MI
January 2006

APR 03, 2006 12:09 PM

Pokes said:
ALso, i negelected to mention, but from a moral perspective, all traditionally conservative arguments against porn are quite easily refutable whereas it's really the feminists who have legitimate objections. Last I checked, this article was presneting the objections of moral conservatives, not feminists.




Care to explain why?

starthinking

starthinking

Ann Arbor, MI
January 2006

APR 03, 2006 12:13 PM

oops, sorry biggrin

how did that happen?

Cigarette

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH
April 2004

APR 03, 2006 12:13 PM

starthinking said:

Pokes said:
ALso, i negelected to mention, but from a moral perspective, all traditionally conservative arguments against porn are quite easily refutable whereas it's really the feminists who have legitimate objections. Last I checked, this article was presneting the objections of moral conservatives, not feminists.




Care to explain why?


So nice, he (or she) had to say it frice.

Aela

Aela

Seattle, WA
March 2006

APR 03, 2006 12:15 PM

someday I will start my own utopian society where people understand that sex is all at once about love, respect, domination, submission, power and humiliation. it is about all those things, every time. if you try to take any of those out of the equation, it becomes a perversion. Sex should be enjoyed and explored, not demonized.

What is it about our society that condemns an act or the viewing of an act that almost ALL OF US participate in? If more people would calm the fuck down and explore the beauty of sex and by extension, porn, then maybe this wouldn't be such a shitty place to live after all.

Oh, and is it the porn ruining the marriage, or is it the lying about the porn addiction and the lack of trust that really ruins a marriage. I mean come on! I hate when people blame pornography for their own inability to create and maintain a healthy, open and honest relationship. GRRRRR!

zoton

zoton

Kuwait
November 2005

APR 03, 2006 12:20 PM

Aela said:
someday I will start my own utopian society where people understand that sex is all at once about love, respect, domination, submission, power and humiliation. it is about all those things, every time. if you try to take any of those out of the equation, it becomes a perversion. Sex should be enjoyed and explored, not demonized.




I agree . Can I come live there


please blush blush

malkav11

malkav11

Saint Paul, MN
July 2003

APR 03, 2006 01:37 PM

Gotta love these people. They take two things: that a vast, vast number of people experience some sort of pornography on a regular basis, sometimes as props for their actual, physical sex life, and that a tiny minority have some sort of problem that causes compulsive and destructive behavior.

And from that, they get... yes, that's right, pornography *causes* the compulsive and destructive behavior. It's so *obvious*...

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